Is It Wrong to Talk About Michelle Obama's Body?

Talking Heads: Born Under Punches (courtesy of Captain Crates)
Remain In Light (Sire, 1980)

No synopsis for this article (eff that/read this one wholly):


AlterNet article by Tamura Lomax, RH Reality Check. Posted November 22, 2008:

A recent Salon article declared 'First Lady Got Back.' Does the piece tap into racist assumptions about black women's sexuality?

The recent cacophonous chorus surrounding Michelle Obama's derriere is undeniably troubling. Yet, to be quite honest, it is also strangely gratifying to me. I recently read Salon's feature piece "First Lady Got Back." Taken aback by the implicit oxymoron between the words, "First Lady" and "Got Back," I sat for hours pondering all that this cluster of words signified. For instance, what does it mean to place "first lady," which designates a "respectable" social position, with "Got Back," a sexist epithet coined by rapper, Sir Mix-a-Lot, in his hot song, "Baby Got Back," in the early 90's? And, what does it mean to inscribe these words onto the body of our very first African American First Lady?

The deployment of both "lady" and "back" can be viewed as problematic. First, discourses about mythologized "ladies" didn't initially include black women. A "lady" was a woman or wife who innately possessed such virtues as delicacy, piety, beauty, politeness and gentleness. Black women, who were not seen as "ladies," "women" or wives, were historically not privy to such designation. Historically speaking, this was a term reserved for white women. And let me just say upfront, this was not necessarily a compliment. As I understand it, "lady" was just as imprisoning as the more derogatory terms used for black female slaves -- just in a different way.

Secondly, there is a long history of discourses regarding harmfully reductive views of black women's "backs." Black women have been pathologized and objectified because of their "backs," which, by the way, come in all shapes and sizes just like those of other men and women. Sir Mix-a-Lot's hit song, "Baby Got Back," was only the tip of the iceberg. The cultural chorus regarding black women's bodies, particularly their fragmented backside, had been singing for centuries. Sir Mix-a-Lot simply joined in. Or did he?

To be sure, the mass production of "Baby Got Back" via radio and television took ongoing essentialist discourses about black female hyper-sexuality to new dimensions. The constant reproduction of the gyrating images became a source of social studies on black female sexuality. This was obviously deeply problematic. However, as stereotypically reductive as this song and video was, in its own way, it also celebrated black women's bodies. Sure, this so-called celebration reproduced every stereotype about black female sexuality possible. And, by fetishizing black women's privates, reduced them to mere objects, namely their butts. This was absolutely damaging. However, it also did something else. Through the process of representation (via video imaging), which presented black women's butts as evidence of stereotypical difference (regarding black female sexuality), many black women, including myself, strangely found a sense of pride in our bodies, specifically our butts. Thus, while Sir Mix-a-Lot (and others) reassigned mythical legacies to our behinds, some black women were re-imagining themselves as subjects with beautiful bodies.

However, it is important to realize that this was not everyone's experience. Nor was it likely the experience of those like Sir Mix-a-Lot who commodified black women's bodies for his own use and enjoyment. Nor is it likely the experience of many of those who have joined in the chorus regarding Michelle Obama's butt. Deployment of terms such as "lady" and "back," without some sort of critical analysis is irresponsible at best, particularly in reference to black women. Even if Obama's butt makes us beam with pride every time her beautiful body sashays center stage, we cannot ignore the effects of the obvious "blackening" of the already historically brimming noun, "lady," when placed together in a title like "First Lady Got Back." There are serious implications to consider here, namely the pathologization of our first African-American "First Lady."

In short, if we are not more careful in our utilization of language and not more forthright in our criticisms of the language of others, we run the risk of reinforcing historical ideals of black female sexual savagery at the highest level. This is very dangerous. So, if Michelle Obama's body makes us proud, why not shape our enthusiasm with a critique of the status quo, which continues to treat her as an object by fragmenting her to her parts? Obama is a subject -- more than a body, and, more than a butt. Inscribing her with words without carefully evaluating their operation first is beyond distressing. It is death dealing. Not just to her, but to all women.


+Luddite In Chief l Why Barack Obama Should Keep His BlackBerry: Slate

Needing Loving

Richard Pryor: Black & White Women
From: Bicentennial Nigger: ...And It's Deep Too! - The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (1968-1992) (Warner Archives/Rhino)

Below find excerpts from an article entitled: Michelle Obama Comes Under Attack? by Pearl JR.
Many of us are noticing that there is really and truly an attack on the value, worth, and importance of Black women in the lives of prominent men. It has gotten so bold that Angelina Jolie is playing a Black woman, 70 percent of Black women are living without spouses, the vast majority of our children are growing up in a single mother household, sixty percent of Black men who earn over $100,000 annually are married to non-Black women, and now a group of White people have created, produced, and distributed a music video that insults Presidential hopeful's Black wife, Michelle Obama; who is now the newest Black women to come under attack to soon be unmated.
Yesterday, while watching Fox News, there was a story about a group of college White students who are posing as Barack Obama supporters that produced a music video called "I Got a Crush on Obama" featuring a sexy White chick lip singing because she was recruited from Craigslist to act in a music video.
Apparently, the Jewish looking female vocalist just wasn't sexy enough to persuade a response from the public or to get Barack Obama's attention they had to use a dummy to pull off this mind-twisting insult.
This video hails Mr. Obama as some type of sex symbol Mandingo that is swooning White women and White people with his sexiness and not his intellect nor his integrity. Forget that Mr. Obama is running for the most powerful job in the world, the Presidency of the United States of America, and put aside that he has a Law Degree from Harvard University and was the only Black President of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, plus voted in as the ONLY Black Senator in the United States Senate among many other notable accomplishments has now been reduced down to being the object of White women's sexual desire.
The scantily dressed White woman with the name of "Obama" on her butt must be to let Barack-ster recognize that she and the producers are aware that Black men like asses, or just in case, he's a tits man, her blouse is tight, especially around the breast area. Furthermore, there is zero mention of Michelle Obama nor his two Black daughters as if they don't even exists, or soon won't, because he is now on White women's radar.
Lastly, check out this comment that I received from YouTube, "if Obama is a true black man he would dump his colored girl wife and shack up with a blonde lady."

*This write-up reads like book and website advertisement and victim role-play via stat cooking: 70%?!
*R.I.P. Richard Pryor the original comedy king courtesy Paul Mooney co-writting
*whitepatriot88:
ill be damned if that nigger becomes president
that space is reserved for WHITES ONLY

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